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       Jim,

       We, too, maintain a gallery collection for the convenience of
       our gallery director. In the past, we kept slides of past,
       present and future examples. However, as space became a
       problem, I had a heart-to-heart with the former gallery
       director which resulted in a change of policy.

       I reminded him of the great amount of time spent and expense
       artists experience in preparing and sending slides for
       prospective shows. I then explained the in-house logistical
       problems. The result of our conversation was that we now only
       keep slides submitted by artists whose work we are showing or
       have shown. All others are sent back to the artist in a
       self-addressed, stamped mailer which must be forwarded with the
       slides being considered. This cut the incoming material
       dramatically! It also allowed the artists to reclaim their
       slides for submission to another show, saving them considerable
       time and money.

       Then I went through our holdings and pulled the slides of any
       artists we never exhibited and either sent them back or
       deaccessioned them (i.e. tossed them out) when I could not
       locate the submitter. As part of this exercise I discovered
       that the gallery director reviewed potential exhibitors' slides
       only rarely. Yet there were many more "potentials" than artists
       who had actually shown their work here.

       Related to this, I created a separate Gallery section in the
       collection after the 20th century division. The filing system
       is by artist's last name only--regardless of medium. We leave
       the artist's original label in tact if legible. If not, we
       follow their format and type a new one. These slides are not
       accessioned into the art history teaching collection at this
       time. The simplified filing system is how the director (and the
       rest of our faculty) knows the works, how they are listed in
       exhibition catalogs and it allows the gallery director and his
       assistant or work/studies to find what they seek quickly and
       efficiently, minimizing patron services.  By leaving original
       labels in tact where it is feasible, if the director decides to
       deaccession any in the future, they can be sent back to the
       artist in their original condition in the original mounts. It
       may not be a perfect system, but it really works well for us!

       Good luck!

       Pat Radford, Curator
       Visual Resources Library
       Department of Art
       Oklahoma State University